If this were a memoir, my first solo trip would have begun with a blind finger, a worn map, and a next day flight. But it’s not; and if I’m being honest, I simply chose a place that didn’t require a car.

I ended up racing a thunderstorm on the deepest lake in Central America, calculating the likelihood my obituary would be credited to the fifteen-year old captain whose name I couldn’t speak enough Kaqchikel to ask. Framed by three volcanoes and nearing its 85,000th birthday, Lake Atitlán has no roads connecting place to place. Each of its seven villages are accessible only by boat — and I didn’t drown once.

Common fascination with Atitlán stems from the lake’s mysteries — a 50-feet-below Mayan empire to archaeologists, a prana-altering energy vortex to mystics, an affordable dreamscape to tourists — but what captured me was the enigma of its land. A rudimentary history: Mayan peoples inhabited the region for millennia before the invasion of Spanish conquistadors, convergence with Catholic saints, overthrow of military-controlled genocide, and assimilation of Western (bad) habits.

Today, the Tz'utujil, the Kaqchikel, Guatemalans, and gringos, coexist in curious harmony— you can just as easily find effigies of Maximón as you can drink Coca Cola by the case. Yet what is traversed in contemporary custom is broken in dialect: twenty Mayan languages, ubiquitous Spanish, limited English. And with the absence of universal speech, came the question of communication. Armed with a pocket-sized translator, I approached the barrier with patience, humor, and a little luck. A brief exchange of names. Abstract outlines drawn in the air, written arrows on a map.

Peluca

September 05, 2019

Last night, Renell Medrano debuted Peluca, her multi-disciplinary exhibition at NYC’s Milk Studios. Bringing together various works⁠—some old and some new⁠—the Bronx-born photographer celebrates the wig, or peluca in Spanish, within her own immediate community while simultaneously delivering it to mainstream culture.

Memorializing office magazine’s Issue 10 cover with Ian Isiah aka Shugga Mama, Medrano includes multiple shots of the seminal spread in her show. Proving to be in good company, the office story was accompanied by other works featuring further office-favs like Dev Hynes and Aweng Chuol.

By honing in on an everyday staple which hasn’t gotten its proper time in the spotlight, the artist hopes to spark a larger, more inclusive conversation as Medrano states, “growing up, there was such a stigma surrounding wigs. No one talked about it but everyone—my friends, my family—wore them. Peluca celebrates the wig’s shift into mainstream culture, and how it is now embraced by women and men of all walks of life.”

Flor de Capomo

August 28, 2019

The Azteca people, also known as the Mexica, created the land of Aztlán almost 300 years prior to The Age of Exploration. These are the ancestors of modern-day Mexico—a country colonized by white Spaniards, and Dutch tradesmen, which forever transformed the cultural, and genetic history, of Mesoamerica. But today we look forward as, Andi, a young girl from the dreamy village of Comala, Colima, becomes a modern woman through the celebration of her Quinceañera.

Dorian Ulises scouted Andi while she was walking amongst the white architectural growths influenced by Spanish Catholicism. The indigenous settlers of Comala named it Ajuchitlán: Valley of the Flowers, which receives water from the nearby Colima Volcano. In short, this place is paradise on Earth, provding the perfect backdrop for this editorial.

Andi was on the cusp of becoming 15 years old; and in Latin America, that marked the debut of a young woman. La fiesta de quinceañera, a tradition dating back to Pre Columbia, entails a dowry, and in some cases, gifting away your virginity. Contemporary Mexican ceremony, though still very religious, is more aligned with current American debutante society. From renting out limousines to throwing parties that may span across an entire city, this coming of age celebration isn't an average party.

For this project, 80s/90s telenovelas meets high fashion. Big shoulders, bright colors, and bold silhouettes transcend zeitgeist as it becomes a part of cultural heritage. As Andi steps into adulthood, she brings with her the history of a forgotten—and oftentimes mythologized—empire. But recent history notes Mexico’s rise as a center for art, and music—perhaps now fashion, as well...